Marianne's Yarn

I am always stunned when I'm out visiting folks on their blog and stumble across my name or some of my yarn. I found this picture this morning when I was visiting Marianne's blog. I hadn't visited in a while and, oh my, has she been making some lovely stuff. You know how some people you just feel connected to? well, that's my feelings with her. Well, plus she is sort of a farm girl, has horses, kids - the good things in life. And did I mention Marianne lives way over in the Netherlands?

Morning Barn Chores

This is the view from my kitchen this a.m. at 7:20 just before I bundled up to do barn chores. I am the luckiest woman in the world to be healthy and able to enjoy and contribute to my small part of the world. Just to be able to say "I'm off to do barn chores" makes me smile. Waiting for me with all their baaing, humming, and nickering are 4 horses (you can just sort of see Cord in the fence on the right), 11 alpacas, 3 kitties, and 6 BabyDoll sheep.
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I'm off to do barn chores. ☺

Present for Myself - Goddess Pendant

Look what just arrived in the mail..... I ordered it for myself. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's glass, created by Molly in Pennsylvania. It came with a lovely choker that fastens magnetically, just the ticket for these arithitic fingers. I love it so much that I just ordered two similar for the daughters as Christmas presents. (Feeling pretty safe 'cause I think they never read their Mom's blogging ramblings.)
Take a look at the lovelies in Molly's store now that I have my choices ordered. (heh, heh). Her shop is called M.SotherdenArtGlass.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our first snow on the way to do morning chores.

Spinning with the SpinningSpider

Last Friday I spent a wonderful day in Howell at Beth's Spinning Loft taking a spinning workshop from Jeannine Bakriges from Vermont. The class was titled "Spinning Thick, Thin, and Medium Yarn", which I need because I am a slave to my fiber and just spin whatever it wants to be. Blog readers will recognize Jeannine as the SpinningSpider.

Beth, I lifted this picture from your blog. Please don't sue me.

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Jenny is a delightful, beautiful, wonderful woman and teacher with an awesome sense of humor. The most important lesson that I brought home is to pick and choose from the "spinning rules" Do what works for me. There are no Spinning Policemen! I now cut my yarn from the spindle with SCISSORS without grief or guilt. I don't HAVE to learn a long draw if my short, backward draw makes nice yarn. If I don't want to change my ratio, and if everything is to my liking, I just keep going.

The really great thing about Jenny is that she encouraged us to push ourself beyond our comfort level. First we worked on a really thin yarn and I totally amazed myself. I now know that I can spin laceweight - if I want to. My main concern is consistency and to spin a designated weight. Jenny sat right next to me to help, in fact, she even spun on my wheel so that I could see what she was talking about. I think I have been visiting and watching too much television while spinning. If I pay attention to the drafting triangle (mine is never really a triangle), my yarn is much more consistent.

The really biggest challenge for me has been to make nice bulky yarn. And look ▲ don't you think that's nice. It's from white fiber boy, Buck. Jenny helped me understand the ratios and how they help spin different weights. I actually change now depending on what I want to spin. The bulky is 6 to 1, which is simply the slowest on my wheel. I do need to remember to slow my feet down also.

Sara's lamb, Ellie

This is Ellie, a delightful little lamb that Sara, from Tucson, Arizona, made from some of my handspun yarn. Visit her Etsy shop, woolies. Sara makes beautiful gifts including awesome shawls and darling little animals like Ellie.